The present invention relates in general to maritime outgoing telephone systems, and more particularly to a service for providing and tracking outgoing calls using a satellite network and a portable telephone, which is mounted on a maritime vessel.
The service generally permits individual caller number input at ⅓ the cost of traditional maritime phone systems. It also permits a user to view specific service information about the calls at the telephone location or other locations for which a ship owner may be responsible. Further, the invention provides multiple phones for multiple vessels and ways for tracking call duration using a maritime vessel or ship""s computing systems with cross-links. The invention involves a series of steps where telephone call data is checked and matched to a particular user or to a group of users. The invention further allows for monthly monitoring and tracking of calls and the deducing of the cost of the calls from the pay of individuals on the maritime vessel. The invention includes hardware, software, and firmware.
The inventive service uses a handheld satellite phone and a fixed mast antennae to track the duration of telephone calls, of which party placed the call by using a series of steps.
This method is an improvement over known systems, which cannot provide or track calls as inexpensively as the present system, which preferably uses the Iridium phone network.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems with the prior art caller tracking and international telephone costs.
The invention is also related to an incoming paging system for use on maritime vessels.
The present invention contemplates a method of using a satellite based handheld phone system for generating a telephone call from a maritime vessel using a handheld unit comprising a dial pad, transmit button, disconnect button, lifetime timer and a call control button and an integral antennae, a base secured to the maritime vessel for cradling the handheld unit, and an antennae secured to the maritime vessel for receiving calls initiated from the handheld unit and transmitting them to a satellite phone network, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
dialing a desired number on the dial pad of the handheld unit to initiate a telephone call and pressing the transmit button; transmitting from the handheld unit to the antennae secured to the maritime vessel; transmitting from the antennae to a satellite phone network; communicating from the satellite phone network to a voice server; connecting from the voice server to a local country voice server to connect with the target phone number for a specific duration; disconnecting from the target phone number when the specific duration is complete by engaging the disconnect button; using the call control button for viewing the specific duration of the telephone call; tracking each initiated and completed telephone call with a user log, wherein the user log comprises: a date of the telephone call, a UTC time when the telephone call was initiated, a code assigned to a user of the handheld unit, the target number, the duration of the call; a cost for the call, and a maritime vessel identification number; creating a monthly report of all telephone calls made with a given maritime vessel identification number denoting a date for each telephone call, a UTC time when the telephone call was initiated, a code assigned to a user of the handheld unit, each target number, the duration of each call, and a cost for each call; using the lifetime timer to view the total duration of all telephone calls made from the handheld unit; correlating the monthly report with the lifetime timer to determine if there is any unallocated time and the cost associated with that time; computing the cost for each code assigned to a user of the satellite based phone system and creating a cost report; using the cost report to deduct the cost associated with a particular code from pay of the user corresponding to that particular code; and using the cost report to deduct the cost of any unallocated time from a pre-established credit for the maritime vessel.